Pedrosa: “We encountered more problems than we had expected”

After a fantastic battle at the Aragon GP, Dani Pedrosa continues his return to the form with second at the Motul Grand Prix of Japan.

Dani Pedrosa was one of just two MotoGP™ World Championship riders to drop into the 1’44 bracket during the opening day of practice at the Japanese GP. The Repsol Honda rider ended the opening day 0.128s shy of Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha) as Pedrosa continues his return to form. It has been a difficult 2015 season for Dani Pedrosa, the year having started poorly when he missed multiple rounds due to arm pump surgery. But the Aragon GP saw flashes of the old Pedrosa, and perhaps even a new Pedrosa, able to take the fight to Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha).

Despite ending the day in second, Pedrosa was not pleased as he still felt there were many problems with his RC213V, but he and his team are working tirelessly to rectify them. Twice Pedrosa has stood on the top step of the Motegi podium and he currently appears as the only rider cable of challenging Lorenzo for victory come Sunday. Fortunately for Pedrosa and all other MotoGP™ riders, there’s still another day of practicing and Qualifying in which to improve.

Dani Pedrosa: “We tested a lot of things out in the practice sessions today and we finished in a good position, but we encountered more problems than we had expected. However, we are working as best we can to reduce these problems and go faster. We shall see just how much we are able to improve tomorrow."